What would you like to see in series 4?

[Zain]

Mh, I doubt Sherlock would worry about that. It's not like he himself was bothered by it. Nor did he seem to care what others made of this. But I suppose that's a question the Sherlock/Molly fanbase will use as a stepping stone for the upcoming works. I don't quite see why it's anyone's but Sherlock's business, but alas, I am not much of a shipper anyway. Can't quite see the appeal of this fanfiction writer-baiting scene. But I wonder if she'll be more suspicious of him in the next season, after all, he tested positive for drugs. And, for example, did Lestrade find out about Sherlock's trip to the drug den? That might lead to complications, even if he had a more or (definitely) less good reason for shooting up.

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

On the whole drug den thing, I feel that "it's for a case" was just an excuse. Most telling is the short span of time between the drug den incident and John and Mary's wedding -- "A month! That's all it took! One." There has to be something more to it than a deliberate relapse. See, when Sherlock and John come back to 221 after Sherlock tests positive, they see that Mycroft's there -- from the straightened door knocker. Unwittingly, Sherlock crooks it as he opens the door. John even points it out but Sherlock's clueless about it. (There's a scene in another episode -- I forgot which -- in which John pulls the door shut with the knocker. Most likely that made the knocker crooked.) Maybe Sherlock fixed it because that was how it was when John still lived at Baker Street.)

 

Inside, Sherlock sneers at Anderson and the other drugs bust girl ('Benji', according to Ariane DeVere and the HLV end credits) and then curls up in his chair like a child. John points out the huge void where his armchair used to be, saying, "What happened to my chair?" Sherlock answers, "It was blocking my view to the kitchen," which is obviously just an excuse. He justifies it with "You were gone. I saw an opportunity." I find that's much like a child saying to their parents, "You weren't around, so I did a thing I wasn't supposed to do because you weren't there to stop me." I feel that this indicates that Sherlock, in terms of emotional and social development, is still childish.

 

Then there's that sudden burst of aggression when Mycroft remarks, "Unwise, brother mine," referring to Sherlock's plans against Magnussen. Why would Sherlock attack his own brother in such a physical way? Mycroft's tried going against Sherlock before, but to no avail since Sherlock doesn't recognise him as actual authority. So why now? Why is it now that Sherlock considers Mycroft an obstacle to his schemes? (Perhaps it's desolation, from John leaving Baker Street. One symptom of depression in men is violence and belligerence. You'd be deeply hurt, too, if you saw your best friend and flatmate after two years only to find that they won't be living with you anymore.)

 

One month after the wedding, Sherlock is still devastated by it, even though he knew it was coming ("He's terrified. ...you know when you’re scared of something, you start wishing it sooner just to get it all going? That’s what he’s doing."). Two long years fighting Moriarty's network and he comes back to London to see John again, because it would've been like a reward. He thought would've gotten to see his best friend again and they'd go on like normal ("What life? I've been away.").

 

But it's not like normal. It's far from normal. Because John doesn't live at Baker Street anymore. And he has a whole new life away from Sherlock.

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

I would like to say that this forum is magical. Because that was the longest nonfiction thing I've written... ever. Wow. I don't know how that happened.

[Zain]

Oh, believe me, it happens Especially when it's about a topic you love.

I quite like your reading. I really do.

[Carol the Dabbler]

... when Sherlock and John come back to 221 after Sherlock tests positive, they see that Mycroft's there -- from the straightened door knocker. Unwittingly, Sherlock crooks it as he opens the door. John even points it out but Sherlock's clueless about it. (There's a scene in another episode -- I forgot which -- in which John pulls the door shut with the knocker. Most likely that made the knocker crooked.) Maybe Sherlock fixed it because that was how it was when John still lived at Baker Street.)

I've been wondering (just every now and then) about that bit:

 

SHERLOCK: What is my brother doing here?

(He gets out of the cab and heads for the front door. John calls after him.)

JOHN (tetchily): So I’ll just pay, then, shall I?

(Sherlock goes up onto the doorstep and glares at the door knocker.)

SHERLOCK: He’s straightened the knocker.

(He turns to John as he gets out of the cab.)

SHERLOCK: He always corrects it. He’s OCD. Doesn’t even know he’s doing it.

(He deliberately pushes the door knocker to one side, then lets himself in.)

JOHN: Why’d you do that?

SHERLOCK: Do what?

JOHN: Nothing.

 

Sherlock says that Mycroft "always" straightens the door knocker -- implying (since Mycroft so rarely comes to Baker Street) that the knocker is usually crooked.  But if it is, why has no one commented on that in prior seasons?  I don't recall ever seeing it crooked before.  Am I simply unobservant?

 

Of course, that may be an exaggerated "always" -- as in "Why do you always .... ?"  But still, you'd think they would have shown it crooked at least once before, just to establish the idea.  Then again, it took a while for either Sherlock or Mycroft to get back to Baker Street in "Empty Hearse," and there were hardly any exterior Baker Street shots in "Sign of Three," so there weren't many prior opportunities for a crooked knocker in Series 3.  But still -- did we simply miss something?

 

[Arcadia]

I wondered the same thing. Finally decided it was just a throwaway joke; the latest "diagnosis" of Sherlock. First he's a sociopath, then it's Asperger's, now he's OCD...... In S4 he'll be a narcissist, and in S5 he'll be bipolar. Because personality disorders are just soooooo funny, ha ha.

[jesskayding]

As I think about it some more, I'd go for some great mind challenges similar to what Sherlock had to go through in TGG, SIB, & TRF with a healthy dose of funny moments (not too many but some). I also wouldn't mind another challenge similar to what the cabbie put Sherlock through with the pills in ASiP. I also wouldn't mind Sherlock realizing that Molly loves him but keep it the same unrequited thing that it is and he can be totally baffled as to why she would. He could even question that realization similar to the doubt thing in HOB.

 

I think Sherlock realizes Molly loves him, as the great deductionist states in SIB: " And she has LOoOve on her mind " then he sees its gifted to Sherlock xoxoxo Love Molly.

[jesskayding]

I think he already realizes she loves him, don't you? Or rather, he thinks she's infatuated with him, but he might not believe it's real love. I'm not even sure I do.

 

I wonder if her attitude towards him will change after HLV; he may have been knocked off the pedestal she put him on. I would think the Janine thing would really toss her for a loop even if the drugs thing didn't.

See that's what I feel. Molly is in love with the Idea of Sherlock. How foolish of a woman do you have to be to love someone who treats you so terribly. She's not StUpiD! So what is it then? Infatuation.

[T.o.b.y]

See that's what I feel. Molly is in love with the Idea of Sherlock. How foolish of a woman do you have to be to love someone who treats you so terribly. She's not StUpiD! So what is it then? Infatuation.

 

Have you never had an unfortunate crush?

 

Maybe this should go in the subtext thread, but with Molly, I see two layers of affection for Sherlock, so to speak. There is the crush / infatuation thing, where one thinks, um, dear, you don't really think this man is boyfriend material, do you? And then there's something else, something deeper and more true, and very touching. I think she does love him as well. Not necessarily romantically, deep down inside, just loves. It's like she really sees him, sees beyond the armor of coat and collar and snark and genius, at the person behind it all. Of course this is me interpreting wildly, but that is what I in turn see when I look at the two of them.

 

My favorite Molly scene is still in The Reichenbach Fall where Sherlock asks her if she would still want to help him if he was not "who you think I am, who I think I am", and she doesn't even have to think about it. What's fascinating about Molly's affection is that she doesn't seem to care so much for Sherlock the genius as Sherlock the man, and who else does that? Who even sees that far into him? This in turn makes us laugh sometimes, because she maybe approaches him too much like a "normal" human being, but on the other hand, we're getting more and more evidence to the fact that he is a normal human being.

[jesskayding]

I don't like her & I don't want to see them together, and that's that. :poutyface:

 

That's my tantrum for the day.

[T.o.b.y]

I don't like her & I don't want to see them together, and that's that. :poutyface:

 

That's my tantrum for the day.

 

If all your tantrums are this mild, they hardly deserve the term...

 

It's perfectly fine, you don't have to like her. I don't like Mycroft, and neither do I share the common sympathy for Moriarty. Oh, and don't even get me started on Magnussen! I wasn't too fond of Janine, at first, either, but she kind of won me over. Anderson I think is a spineless, pathetic idiot and Bill Wiggins is just plain annoying and superfluous.

 

We all have our aversions, and thank god with fictional people, we don't even have to justify them.

 

I don't want to see Sherlock and Molly together together, but just plain together? Yeah, any time. For me, a scene that has these two interact would have to be a lot more badly written than any member of the Sherlock team is capable of, to put me off.

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

 

I think he already realizes she loves him, don't you? Or rather, he thinks she's infatuated with him, but he might not believe it's real love. I'm not even sure I do.

 

I wonder if her attitude towards him will change after HLV; he may have been knocked off the pedestal she put him on. I would think the Janine thing would really toss her for a loop even if the drugs thing didn't.

See that's what I feel. Molly is in love with the Idea of Sherlock. How foolish of a woman do you have to be to love someone who treats you so terribly. She's not StUpiD! So what is it then? Infatuation.

 

 

Well, it could be more. Molly's hoping for more than just being boyfriend-girlfriend with Sherly here. In ASiP, Sherlock says, "Three kisses says 'wife', not 'girlfriend'," when deducing things from John's phone.

 

In ASIB, Molly's gift is addressed, "Dearest Sherlock xxx".

[Arcadia]

See that's what I feel. Molly is in love with the Idea of Sherlock. How foolish of a woman do you have to be to love someone who treats you so terribly. She's not StUpiD! So what is it then? Infatuation.

I don't understand it either, but I do know women who love men who treat them badly. It seems crazy to me, but I'm on the outside looking in ...

[Arcadia]

And now that I think about it.... Sherlock's changed how he treats her, don't you think? He's realized how he can hurt her, and is a lot more careful with her, it seems to me. He was almost chummy with her when they went to see the train guy.

[T.o.b.y]

And now that I think about it.... Sherlock's changed how he treats her, don't you think? He's realized how he can hurt her, and is a lot more careful with her, it seems to me. He was almost chummy with her when they went to see the train guy.

 

Yes, and, he kept his mouth shut and refrained from pointing out the obvious when he was first introduced to Tom. That scene, where Sherlock actually realizes what the most diplomatic course of action would be and follows it really shows how he has matured over the two years he was away.

 

Molly could totally work as a substitute for John. Not that I ever want to see that, but it struck me as I watched them on their day of crime solving together that a series with that team at the center would be just fine. They have great chemistry.

 

I'm still hoping Molly will end up with Lestrade, love-wise, though. I think he'd be totally up for it already, but the idea hasn't crossed her mind at all, because she's so focused on Sherlock, and also, in a very typically female, self-destructive way, it has probably never occurred to her to date a really nice man. (I do not count Tom as a nice man. Tom was creepy if you ask me. I am glad she got rid of him.)

[T.o.b.y]

 

Well, it could be more. Molly's hoping for more than just being boyfriend-girlfriend with Sherly here. In ASiP, Sherlock says, "Three kisses says 'wife', not 'girlfriend'," when deducing things from John's phone.

 

In ASIB, Molly's gift is addressed, "Dearest Sherlock xxx".

 

Sorry to disappoint you, but the actual lines in A Study in Pink are:

 

"Three kisses says it’s a romantic attachment. The expense of the phone says wife, not girlfriend."

 

So we'd have to know how much Molly's present cost to assess her intentions in the true Sherlock fashion - or at least know what it is.

 

 

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

Let's pretend that my memory isn't that bad.

 

But have any of you noticed this in TSoT? When Sherlock starts going off about murder during his speech as he starts deducing who's the Mayfly Man's target, you can hear Tom mutter, "He's pissed, isn't he?" and then Molly stabs him with her fork without even looking. Molly seems to already know what the heck's going on, even though Sherlock explains the whole Sholto's-gonna-die thing to John only. Even Geoff Greg looks confused until Sherlock texts, Lock the place down. Maybe Molly's just perceptive, maybe she's better at understanding Sherlock, or maybe she also knows the meaning of 'Vatican Cameos' as well.

[T.o.b.y]

Let's pretend that my memory isn't that bad.

 

But have any of you noticed this in TSoT? When Sherlock starts going off about murder during his speech as he starts deducing who's the Mayfly Man's target, you can hear Tom mutter, "He's pissed, isn't he?" and then Molly stabs him with her fork without even looking. Molly seems to already know what the heck's going on, even though Sherlock explains the whole Sholto's-gonna-die thing to John only. Even Geoff Greg looks confused until Sherlock texts, Lock the place down. Maybe Molly's just perceptive, maybe she's better at understanding Sherlock, or maybe she also knows the meaning of 'Vatican Cameos' as well.

 

Or maybe Molly is like me and thinks anything must be brilliant as long as it is Sherlock saying it... I do think she's very perceptive where he is concerned, though, and I bet she's developed a special "something is wrong with him" radar. She wouldn't even have to know the meaning of Vatican Cameos to catch on in that scene... There are only two possibilities, either Sherlock has gone out of his mind completely (with or without the help of alcohol), or there's something deeper going on. Like me, Molly seems to think the latter explanation more likely where he's concerned.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'm still hoping Molly will end up with Lestrade, love-wise, though. I think he'd be totally up for it already, but the idea hasn't crossed her mind at all, because she's so focused on Sherlock, and also, in a very typically female, self-destructive way, it has probably never occurred to her to date a really nice man. (I do not count Tom as a nice man. Tom was creepy if you ask me. I am glad she got rid of him.)

I definitely second Molly & Greg -- even though I didn't find Tom particularly creepy, just kind of -- irrelevant? (And Sherlock would have found the "meat dagger" idea brilliant if he'd thought of it himself!)

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

Tom is kinda creepy to me, but that's probably because I read a S4 speculative thing

where he's the son of Lord Moran and he's the guy Moriarty used to scare that little girl in TRF.

 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

That does make him come across as creepy Bendydoodle.  It would be interesting if he did show up in S4 in some the proved or disproved that spoiler of yours.

[Carol the Dabbler]

According to what Sherlock told Anderson in Empty Hearse, the guy Moriarty used to make the little girl scared of Sherlock ended up in the morgue.  So he couldn't have been in the next episode.

 

No idea who Tom's father is, but kids don't necessarily grow up to be like their parents.  In fact, seems like most kids try to be as little like their parents as possible!

 

Is any of that any comfort to you, Bendy?

 

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

 

See that's what I feel. Molly is in love with the Idea of Sherlock. How foolish of a woman do you have to be to love someone who treats you so terribly. She's not StUpiD! So what is it then? Infatuation.

I don't understand it either, but I do know women who love men who treat them badly. It seems crazy to me, but I'm on the outside looking in ...

 

 

Some people think that one (minor) reason why women stay in abusive relationships is because little girls are taught "If he's mean to you, he likes you." The one major reason is that victims of domestic violence are 75% more likely to be killed if they try to leave.

[Arcadia]

Wow. That's scary.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Some people think that one (minor) reason why women stay in abusive relationships is because little girls are taught "If he's mean to you, he likes you."

You know, I never thought of it that way, but mothers do say that, don't they. "Mommy, Johnny called me names." "Don't worry dear, that just means he likes you." Which may well be true, at least at age 10 or so, but boys tend to grow out of that stage.  Maybe girls just keep on assuming that he's mean because he likes them.

 

But it also seems to be human nature to prefer punishment to no attention at all. That's apparently why a lot of neglected kids tend to act up a lot -- so at least they'll get yelled at. Some desperately lonely women might prefer an abusive boyfriend to continued loneliness.